


Princess In A Tower

by Lady_Phenyx



Series: Fluffvember 2019 [27]
Category: Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson, 楽しいムーミン一家 | Moomin (Anime 1990)
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Fluff, Good Parent Joxaren | The Joxter, Kidnapping, Multi, Snusmumriken | Snufkin Has Paws and a Tail
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:07:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21587326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Phenyx/pseuds/Lady_Phenyx
Summary: It would be a lovely fairytale - a princess locked in a tower, with her loved ones coming to the rescue.If it weren't Snorkmaiden locked in the tower, called a princess and held captive by people angry that Snufkin hadn't played by their rules during one of his trips.Honestly, how was he supposed to resist a 'Keep Out' sign?Fluffvember Day 27: "Did you really do that?" | "I never told you, but..."
Relationships: Mumintrollet | Moomintroll/Snorkfröken | The Snork Maiden/Snusmumriken | Snufkin, Springtime Trio
Series: Fluffvember 2019 [27]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1533602
Comments: 11
Kudos: 86





	Princess In A Tower

Moomin knew there were a lot of stories Snufkin hadn't told him – hadn't told anyone – about the things he'd seen and done outside of Moomin Valley, both before and after they'd met.

He doled them out as he felt like it, not as if he were being stingy with them, but as if he didn't remember to share until something prompted him or the mood took him.

“You should write down all the things you've done and seen,” Moomin said one day, as he and Snufkin and Snorkmaiden sat on the riverbank. “Like Papa with his memoirs! Before they have a chance to fade.”

Snufkin hummed softly, staring at his fishing float. “I'm not sure,” he said. “That pins them down on the paper, then that's how you remember it. You don't get to go back and remember little details or how it went differently – it's static now.”

“What if we wrote down what you told us?” Snorkmaiden asked. “I want to remember everything you've done, we could keep changing them whenever you remember something. Then it wouldn't be static for you. I'd love to be able to read them if we wake up during winter – like having you here with us, just a little piece of you.”

Snufkin blushed faintly and looked away as Snorkmaiden leaned against him, though his tail curled around her in shy affection.

“I'll think about it,” he said, and they let the subject drop. It was too pretty a day to spend with each other and waste arguing and getting Snufkin to dig in his heels.

Especially when Snorkmaiden was winning, and if they left it to stew for Snufkin, she likely would win in the end.

\---XXX---

Somehow, Snufkin's life outside the valley and inside the valley rarely mixed, staying separate for the most part.

Not that there was really anything he was trying to hide, it just...happened to work out that way.

Up until now.

None of them could have imagined it would mix like this.

Snorkmaiden huddled against the back of her cell, her mind traveling a thousand miles a minute.

So far, they were treating her like a princess – a captive princess, yes, but a princess. If what she was hearing was right, they'd heard Snufkin call her that and assumed it was a title, not a nickname.

Which was a silly assumption on their part in Snorkmaiden's opinion, but she wasn't going to tell them otherwise. Not while she was trapped in here.

It must have been the other day, when they were being silly and acting as if she actually were a princess. She loved that game, in all its incarnations, and these men were not going to ruin it, she vowed. Her boys were too sweet as her prince charmings to give it up.

But as much as she enjoyed her boys treating her like a princess, she wasn't appreciating being a princess right now. Not when being a princess meant they were going the whole nine miles, had locked her in a cell with a fancy dress they expected her to put on, had her trapped in a tower in a cell with a _dragon_ right outside her door.

Snorkmaiden didn't relax when she got a better look at the dragon and realized they'd somehow captured Moomin's Little Dragon.

For one thing, Little Dragon was decidedly not so little anymore. And for another, he'd never cared for anyone but Snufkin before now, she doubted he felt any different now that he'd been chained up and trapped in a tower.

If she were him, she'd be less likely to be nice to anyone after that.

Little Dragon snarled at their captors as they double checked the door to Snorkmaiden's cell – it was a pretty cell, she'd give them that much, a properly princessy cell, with lots of cushions and chairs and a pretty four poster bed – and gave him a wide berth as they left, the door locking behind them with a final sounding clank.

Little Dragon turned to look at Snorkmaiden, and she tried to step back again, stopped by the wall.

He sniffed, wings fluttering as his head went up, sniffing again and again before whining softly, head drooping.

And Snorkmaiden flashed gold when it hit her.

“You smell Snufkin on me, don't you, Little Dragon?” she asked.

His head came up again, tilting as he looked at her. Snorkmaiden came to the bars, holding out a paw.

Little Dragon came to the end of his chain to sniff – he couldn't reach her paw, but she could see him getting excited, and frankly didn't want him able to reach her paw. She could still remember how he'd bitten her ear last time she'd seen him. “That's right, it's Snufkin. You remember him, right? He'll be coming to help us, but we'll have to help him do it, so we need to work together, okay?”

Little Dragon stared at her, and Snorkmaiden flickered through colors. “We're on the same side, Little Dragon. And I'm getting you out of here. So no biting, okay? Not me at least. Them you can all you like.”

Little Dragon stared at her for another long, long few seconds before slowly blinking at Snorkmaiden and lowering his head.

Snorkmaiden let out a long breath. That was the dragon partially tamed. Now for...everything else.

Like finding out just what was going on.

\---XXX---

The letter that was nailed to the Snork's door was vague, and had everyone in a tizzy.

_We have your princess. We demand restitution and an apology from the filthy vagabond that destroyed our fine, upstanding tradition through rescuing our princess without marrying her. In order to do so, he must pass the trials our princess' rescuer should have been able to complete – a task only possible for a True Prince that he denied us – and prove himself either vagabond or Proper Prince. A vagabond for a princess is an unequal trade, one we suggest you take. Or we shall replace ours with yours, and she shall stay with us until a proper prince is found for her, rather than associating with vagabonds. Come to meet us at the edge of the Valley at sunset, if you wish to attempt rescuing your princess._

“I don't know what they're talking about...Snufkin, do you?” Snork asked, gripping at his ears as he slumped at the Moomin's table, sick with worry and a dark, dark blue grey. “You and your father are the only vagabonds I know.”

“Calling me filthy seems ruder than necessary,” Snufkin commented as he scanned the letter, his tail flicking with irritation.

“You do know what they're talking about, then?” Snork asked, shooting upright.

Snufkin nodded, slowly. “I think...yes, I remember now. About two years ago, I passed a tower while I was coming back to Moomin Valley. There was a big garden of thorns around it, and a bunch of signs saying 'Keep Out', so of course I went in.”

“But the signs...” Snork said faintly.

Joxter, Little My, and Snufkin looked at him as if he'd grown two heads. “Said keep out,” Snufkin said, as if it were obvious and made perfect sense.

“Why were there keep out signs?” Moomin asked before the conversation could derail further.

“Oh, well they'd trapped a princess at the top of the tower. Very fairy tale. There was a nice clear path, with some pretty easy to avoid traps and puzzles along the way, almost more like they were for the look of it than actually being a test. She said they locked her up there because she didn't want to get married to the man they'd picked for her, but if she was rescued then tradition said she'd have to marry whoever rescued her. So I left the door unlocked and met her outside so she could rescue herself.”

“Why all the traps?” Snork asked after a moment.

Snufkin shrugged. “Apparently, her groom-to-be wanted to do a full heroic rescue but couldn't be counted on to make it if they had real traps. She had a lot to say about him before we parted ways.”

“It looks like she didn't go back home after ward,” Moominpappa said, looking over the letter again. “If they say they want to replace theirs with ours. Wonder where they got the idea Snorkmaiden is a princess? ...oh, right,” he added when Snufkin and Moomin blushed faintly.

“She had another princess she was going to go meet and marry,” Snufkin said. “It was part of the rant. I guess it was part of why she was locked up.”

“But why would they want Snufkin to do it again, if they need a new princess?” Moominmamma said in concern. “I don't like this at all.”

“It sounds like they want Snufkin to do it again, just with real trials this time,” Joxter said, glancing over the note. “It almost sounds like they aren't sure if you're a vagabond or not, since you got past their traps and tradition. So, how many are you taking with you?”

“I think I should go alone,” Snufkin said. He held up a paw before anyone could protest, adding, “Just to the first meeting, you can hide around it and come out once we get there to help so they can't try and make you stay behind. I can't deny Moomin, at least, the chance to help rescue our girlfriend.”

\---XXX---

In the tower, one of the men was bringing Snorkmaiden dinner, along with a tiara and a stack of papers. She was wearing the dress, but only so they'd keep their guard down, thinking she was going to play along.

That, and it really was a pretty dress, and if things worked out she was so keeping it. She deserved something for putting up with this nonsense. This was a lot less fun in reality than when they were having fun in Moomin Valley.

The man inched his way past Little Dragon, slipping into the cell while another of the men with him stood by the door so she couldn't rush out.

“Are you going to finally tell me what's going on?” Snorkmaiden demanded.

The man bowed. “Well, you see, Princess, two years ago, the vagabond you've chosen to spend your time with destroyed our centuries old tradition by freeing our princess from her tower before her time was over, denying our prince the chance to rescue her. And he destroyed it further by refusing to marry her himself, claiming she saved herself even though she could not have gotten out without aid, his to be precise. She has fled the kingdom and now claims to be wed to the princess of another kingdom. So we've replaced her with his princess, granting you a new kingdom, and he shall perish in the trials he passed through before, as only a true prince would be able and worthy of passing them.”

“What makes you think he's unworthy of passing?” Snorkmaiden demanded, thinking _Good for her!_ “Or of being my boyfriend? Rescuing damsels in distress is just what princes in disguise do when they're out and about, you know. How do you know he's not one of those? He's very much like his father – it's their tradition, to wander about like that. He was already my boyfriend two years ago, by the way.”

The man paused, looking very disturbed at the idea. “I...well...”

“You never thought of it, did you?” Snorkmaiden asked. “That maybe that's why he got through your tradition. My princes will come, you'll see. And he'll still have his vagabond disguise on, too. Good enough to fool anyone.”

The man bowed and excused himself in a rush, hurrying from the room.

Snorkmaiden giggled once he was gone. “Forgive me, Snufkin, but I hope I just messed with their plans, or at least confused them enough to make a mistake,” she whispered. “Oh, that's a pretty tiara. Don't mind if I do, if they're going to insist.”

\---XXX---

Snufkin sat at the side of the road at the meeting place, playing his harmonica, trying to project a calm he wasn't feeling, with his tail tucked underneath him so it wouldn't give him away, as it was apt to do. Sometimes he almost missed it being invisible, and unable to tell everyone just what he was feeling. Almost.

Despite the repeated referrals to Snorkmaiden as a princess, he didn't trust these men to treat her well. Especially if they found out she wasn't actually a princess of a kingdom, only one to Moomin and Snufkin.

There were steps from down the path along with hoofbeats, and Snufkin refused to look up until they stopped, making them wait until the end of the musical phrase he'd been playing.

There were three men in fancy, formal clothing, along with a pair of saddled horses, held by the reins, the men's mouths tight with anger that he'd made them stand and wait.

“Vagabond,” the apparent leader said formally, and Snufkin noticed he was looking him over uneasily, as if he wasn't sure Snufkin wasn't hiding something. “You came.”

“You kidnapped my princess,” Snufkin said simply.

“We brought a horse for yourself and her other prince, we know he's nearby,” the leader said. “Only those intending to rescue the princess are to enter the tower, but having a entourage on the journey is traditional.”

After a moment, the rest of them came out of the woods, surrounding Snufkin and staring the men down. Joxter and Little My, Snork and Sniff, Moominmamma and Moominpappa all glared at them angrily.

The men shifted uneasily under all their eyes. What were they expecting, Snufkin wondered. If Snorkmaiden had been a princess, there could have been an entire army here to take her back.

“This is ridiculous, just give us my sister back!” Snork demanded.

“He needs to pay for what he did!” one of the men, the one to the left, said angrily.

“For freeing someone you were keeping prisoner?” Joxter asked softly.

“For interfering in our traditions! For refusing to marry her after rescuing her, when that is the proper way these things are done! For filling our traditional tower garden with hattifattener seeds and the tower with parasprites! Half the court still hasn't recovered from being shocked by the hattifatteners, and we still haven't gotten rid of all the parasprites!”

There was a beat of silence as the others absorbed this new information.

“...Snufkin, did you really do that?” Moomin asked after a moment.

“...yeah,” Snufkin admitted with a shrug. “I mean, they were locking people up in it.”

Joxter and Little My downright cackled. “That's my boy! I'm so proud!” Joxter crowed.

The men eyed up Joxter, and Snufkin was gearing up to defend him when the second nudged the first. Their eyes darted between Snufkin and Joxter, Moomin and Snork, and Snufkin worried that the jig might be up.

“You both, ah...this is a family tradition?” the second asked.

Joxter looked at him in confusion, but shrugged. “Sure is.”

They looked more disturbed at that, but held out the reins. “Here. Tradition states the prince...or, apparently, princes...ride to the tower.”

“But...” Moomin said, looking up at the horse uneasily.

“Tradition will be fulfilled or we will do everything in our power to hide her away again. To find the tower, follow the road.”

Snufkin stood and snatched the reins from the second man. His glare made the man step back, and when Joxter and Little My's were added to his the three looked at each other uneasily and hurried back down the road, not arguing further.

There were more hoofbeats after a minute, telling them that there had been more horses down the road waiting for them.

“I don't know how to ride a horse,” Moomin said uneasily. “Do you really think they'll do something if we don't?”

Snufkin paused, shifting his weight shyly. “Oh, I guess I never told you, but...”

“You know how to ride? When did you learn?” Moomin asked, stars in his eyes.

Snufkin shrugged. “Well, you just sort of pick up skills sometimes,” he said. “I'll tell you later.”

He mounted without a problem, and held down a hand to Moomin. “Here, you can ride with me. I'd rather walk just to spite them, but it's faster, and we'll be pushing things as it is. Pappa, do you know how? Does anyone else?”

The others shook their heads silently.

“Sure do,” Joxter said, boosting Moomin up onto the horse, which shifted until Snufkin soothed it while Joxter mounted the other horse. “How far do you think we have to go?”

“Given they've gotten Snorkmaiden there and brought themselves back within a day, it can't be far,” Snufkin said. “Anyone else coming?”

Little My leapt onto the back of Joxter's horse, making it start. “I'm not missing out on this!” she declared.

“You'll go faster if you don't have to keep up with us,” Snork said, deepening once more to blue-grey from the angry red he'd been. “Please bring my sister home.”

“We will,” Snufkin and Moomin promised together.

Snufkin nodded to his father, and they nudged the horses into a quick trot.

In the woods, the men watched them pass.

“They can ride,” the first said uneasily. “Maybe the princess was right. Vagabonds shouldn't know how to ride. And that father of his...”

“It's only the first requirement, he'll fail soon enough,” the leader said. “I'm not convinced, and vagabonds need taught their place. We'll see how they do with the other tests.”

\---XXX---

The horses made good time down the road, and Moomin wished he could see the picture they made, sure it was a romantic and exciting one, judging from how Joxter looked as he rode.

They had been riding for about an hour when they saw the tower, and they slowed the horses to stare at it.

“Well. That's new,” Joxter said after a minute. He tilted his head as they drew closer and added, “Looks like they took the effort to make it look old. Guess appearances really mean a lot to them.”

“Now what?” Moomin asked as they drew up to the gates.

“You read a lot of fairy tales, you should know how this goes,” Snufkin said over his shoulder.

“Right. Trials along the way, and then the princess is kept in the highest room of the tallest tower,” Moomin said, full of determination. “...you don't happen to have any hattifattener seeds or know where there's any parasprites, do you? They didn't do any trials along the way, that makes me kind of nervous.”

“It's not much fun doing the same prank twice,” Snufkin said. “Besides, hattifattener seeds only sprout on midsummer's eve. Not much use to us today.”

“Let's just go see what they've got waiting for us, and decide how to get even later,” Joxter suggested. “We'll have to leave the horses outside the tower.”

\---XXX---

Up in the tower, Snorkmaiden heard the sound of hooves and pressed herself to the barred window. Down below, she watched as Snufkin and Joxter rode up to the gates, Moomin and Little My seated behind them, and felt her heart beat fast.

She didn't know Snufkin rode! Oh, he and Moomin really did look like her princes coming to her rescue, mounted on fine, heroic steeds!

Snorkmaiden glanced around her cell again, forcing herself to calm down. She'd tried picking the lock, tried loosening the bars on the window, tried the walls and the bars of the door, tried to get Little Dragon to melt the bars (that had nearly lit her cell of fire and was a Very Bad Idea – several of the pillows were badly scorched now).

So far, nothing had worked. It was so frustrating! If it were Snufkin in here, he would have thought a way out by now, certainly!

Well, maybe not, but at least he wouldn't sit around waiting to be rescued! Not that she had been, but still. It felt like that's all she was doing.

“Snufkin's down there,” she announced, watching Not-So-Little Dragon perk up at the words. “Get ready, Little Dragon.”

\---XXX---

The foursome dismounted and headed for the door to the tower. Joxter paused to sniff, and announced, “I can smell them coming.”

“Let's get inside before they get huffy about you two coming along,” Snufkin said with an eye roll.

“You know, if this all works out, Snorkmaiden's going to love this story,” Moomin said as the door closed behind them. “It's just like something she would have made up, when she's writing.”

Snufkin felt for Moomin's paw, clasping it tight. “It will.”

\---XXX---

The foursome mounted the stairs, unnerved by how quiet the tower was and how there hadn't been any traps yet.

There had been more in the original tower, Snufkin was sure. So where were they now? They'd wanted something to 'prove' a vagabond couldn't rescue a princess (despite all the fairy tales that said otherwise) so where was it? There should have been...he didn't know, something. An old woman asking for crusts of bread or walls or a moat or something.

Then they came to the door at the top of the tower. A pair of swords were leaning against the wall by the door, along with a pair of shields.

Odd, considering they apparently wanted Snufkin to fail, that they would leave equipment at all.

“I don't like this,” Moomin said, reaching for a sword.

Snufkin cracked the door open, peeking inside as Moomin fumbled with the sword.

“What...Little Dragon?” he said, pulling the door open fully.

Little Dragon leapt to the end of his chain, wiggling and jumping joyfully.

“Snufkin! Moomin!” Snorkmaiden cried from her cell on the other side of Little Dragon, in full princess dress and tiara. “I'm so glad to see you! The keys are on the wall over there, do you see them?”

“I...wait a minute...okay, I'm glad to see you too!” Snufkin said, trying to avoid Little Dragon's enthusiastic greeting and not having much success.

“He got big!” Moomin said in awe.

Little Dragon turned to look at Moomin and grumbled.

“Hey now,” Snufkin said, gently taking hold of Little Dragon's chin. “Moomin cares about you, and you're big now. He knows not to try and put you in a jar again, and he's important to me, so play nice, all right?”

Little Dragon grumbled again but subsided after a minute. “Good dragon. We're going to get you and Snorkmaiden loose, no biting us now, okay? You can bite the ones who locked the two of you in here if you like.”

Little Dragon perked back up at that.

“How'd you find us?” Snorkmaiden asked as Snufkin passed the keys to Moomin, who hurried to unlock Snorkmaiden while Snufkin unchained Little Dragon.

“They wanted us to,” Moomin said. “Something about tests and getting even with Snufkin for letting their last princess loose.”

“Snufkin, did you really?” Snorkmaiden asked, after nuzzling Moomin.

“She was locked up for wanting to marry another princess instead of the prince they picked for her, so they were doing the whole tower thing to make her do it. Why doesn't anyone believe I did it?” Snufkin asked, only a little put out, crossing the room to claim his kiss. “I mean, they surrounded the tower with 'Keep Out' signs, of course I was going to see what that was about.”

“You just usually don't get involved, that's all,” Snorkmaiden said. “They said you did that, but I wasn't about to believe what they told me. I...might have dropped hints about you being a prince in disguise in return, just to throw them off.”

“That explains a lot,” Joxter laughed as Little Dragon and Little My sized each other up. “Not the dragon, but a lot of their attitude.”

“They had swords for us,” Moomin said. “I'll bet we were supposed to fight Little Dragon.”

“But he was all chained up!” Little My said in disgust. “These guys really are low.”

“And they deserve the scare they're about to get. Don't they, Little Dragon?” Snufkin said, stroking Little Dragon's neck.

The dragon wiggled happily and shoved himself under Snufkin, carrying the laughing Snufkin downstairs as the rest followed along on his tail.

The men waiting at the base of the tower scattered as Little Dragon burst out the door.

“You were supposed to slay the dragon, not tame it!” one of them yelled as he scrambled for safety.

“Kill the last dragon in the world? That's not very noble or heroic,” Snufkin said mildly. “What kind of prince would that be?”

Little Dragon snapped at the men – and his bites were more terrifying than before, making the men scatter.

“We're going home now,” Snufkin said, lying along Little Dragon's neck. “And we're taking both our princess and our dragon.”

“I told you my princes would come save me,” Snorkmaiden said smugly.

“They brought a king and a princess into the tower with them! They still haven't done it right!” one of them argued angrily.

Joxter's tail whipped and he snorted softly as he tried not to outright laugh and give them away. Him, a king? Seriously?

“And you locked up a princess that wasn't from your kingdom,” Moomin argued back. “That's kidnapping!”

Little Dragon rumbled again, stepping towards the men. They looked at each other, and slowly backed away as Little Dragon followed them.

“Fine, you win, we're leaving,” the leader snapped. “Don't argue, they've got the bloody dragon on their side,” he hissed at the other two when they made protesting noises.

Little Dragon snapped at them again. It was the last straw as the men turned and fled.

They waited until they were gone before Snufkin slid off Little Dragon's back. “It's too bad you can't talk and tell us what happened,” he said softly, a paw still lying on Little Dragon's neck. “I'm pretty sure Moomin Valley's not enough for you, but you'll have to be more careful out there.”

Little Dragon grumbled and pressed against Snufkin.

Behind them, Snorkmaiden cleared her throat. “You know, this has all been a bit like a fairytale,” she said. “But if it is, it's not properly finished yet.”

“Oh?” Moomin asked, everyone turning to Snorkmaiden.

“Well usually, this is when either the hero give the fair maiden a kiss, or the fair maiden thanks her rescuers with a kiss.”

“Didn't you already do that upstairs?” Little My demanded crossly.

“That was a girlfriend kiss, not a fair maiden kiss,” Snorkmaiden said primly.

Snufkin pretended to sigh and walked over to Snorkmaiden, cupping her face in his paws. He meant to kiss her snout, keep it light, but she grabbed his waist and dipped him for a proper kiss before he could, Snurkin's tail fluffing out in surprise before starting to whip in glee.

Little My fake gagged and stormed off as they kissed, Snufkin still purring and blushing as he was set back on his feet while Snorkmaiden beamed smugly.

Then it was her turn to be dipped as Moomin took his fair maiden kiss.

Snorkmaiden was blushing and giggling as badly as Snufkin had been as they mounted the horses, Snufkin on one with Snorkmaiden lifted to sit behind him and Moomin scrambling up behind Joxter.

Little My and Little Dragon eyed each other before she scrambled onto the horse behind Moomin.

The horse shied as Little Dragon nudged at Snufkin. “You can follow us, if you want,” he said. “But remember, you're bigger now, you can't bite people.”

Little Dragon tilted his head and thought about it before taking off.

“Think he'll be waiting in Moomin Valley?” Moomin asked as they watched him fly off.

“Only one way to find out,” Snufkin said. He flicked the reins, and the horse set off.

They were going to be talking about this day in Moomin Valley for a long time.


End file.
